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Google recently friended arch-rival Facebook's Open Compute Project (OCP) to help it with power-sucking data centers, and that relationship is already paying off. Google revealed its first contribution to the project, Open Rack 2.0, a design for shallow, 48V racks that fit into data centers with limited space. Google has used a similar spec since 2010, and "saved millions of dollars and kilowatt hours" compared to 12V systems, it said.

Facebook and Google aren't the best of friends, but they're willing to make exceptions for the right causes: Google has joined Facebook's Open Compute Project in a bid to improve data centers everywhere. It's starting off by contributing a new server rack spec that both improves power handling and lets project members' racks slip into Google computing farms. The move isn't entirely surprising, even though it involves an arch-rival. Google is no stranger to building its own hardware -- it's just offering some of that know-how to the tech industry in hopes of getting some upgrades in return.

Facebook's two-year-old Open Compute Project is fast becoming a potential cure-all for servers, with efforts underway that tackle efficiency, storage and monolithic design. Its next target: the frequently closed-source, small-scale world of network switches. The OCP team wants networking devices as open and scalable as the servers underneath them, and it's teaming up with heavy hitters such as Broadcom, Intel and VMware to make that happen. Unlike past initatives, though, there isn't an obvious template to work from. When development starts at the OCP Engineering Summit on May 16th, the alliance will be starting from scratch -- which suggests that we'll be waiting a long time to see what truly flexible switches can do.

The Open Compute Project is pushing hard for servers that are both very scalable and streamlined, and AMD is more than willing to help with the launch of its Open 3.0 server platform. The framework combines two Opteron 6300 processors with a motherboard that contains just the essentials, yet scales to meet just about any need in a rackmount system. Among the many, many expansion options are 24 memory slots, six SATA ports for storage, as many as four PCI Express slots and a mezzanine link for custom components. Open 3.0 isn't as flexible as a decentralized, Intel-based prototype being shown at the same time, but it's also much closer to practical reality -- a handful of companies already have access, and on-the-ground sales should start before the end of March. If all goes well, companies will have a Lego-like server base that solves their problems with precision.

As much as it's important to have every component of a PC stuck together in a laptop, that same monolithic strategy is a major liability for server clusters: if one part breaks or grows obsolete, it can drag down everything else. Facebook and its Open Compute Project partners have just unveiled plans to loosen things up at the datacenter. A prototype, Atom-based rackmount server from Quanta Computer uses 100Gbps silicon photonics from Intel to connect parts at full speed, anywhere on the rack. Facebook has also garnered support for a new system-on-chip connection standard, rather affectionately named Group Hug, that would let owners swap in new mini systems from any vendor through PCI Express cards. The combined effect doesn't just simplify repairs and upgrades -- it lets companies build the exact servers they need without having to scrap other crucial elements in the process. There's no definite timeframe for when we'll see modular servers put to work, but the hope is that a cluster's foundations will stay relevant for years instead of months.

More Facebook news, but this time we're back to the numbers instead of reporting on a new feature, improvement or integration. As part of its mission to swap the familiar blue for something of a greener tinge, Facebook released today its carbon footprint and overall energy usage figures for 2011. Turning bio-babble into easy visualizations, the company points out that for the whole year, an active user occupied roughly the same carbon footprint as one medium latte. Or, if you're a fan of the tipple, a couple of glasses of wine. Impressively, 23 percent of the social giant's energy usage came from clean and renewable sources, which puts it well on the way to its 2015 target of 25 percent or more. If you'd like more info and a complete breakdown of the stats, the full report is available at the source link below.

Since breaking ground in Western North Carolina some 16 months ago, Facebook has been running at full speed to get its newest data center online. This week, Zuckerberg & Co. flipped the switch. The new facility, located in Forest City, touts the "first major deployment" of the outfit's Open Compute Project web servers and will be the first "live test" of the OPC's outdoor air-cooling design. It tends to get pretty warm around those parts and humidity levels are a bit outside of ideal data center conditions. The Carolina facility will mirror the projected power utilization effectiveness (PUE) of FB's Oregon data center at just a smidge above 1 – somewhere between 1.06 and 1.08 to be exact. In other words, this means the ratio of power used by the structure and the actual power sent to the hardware is almost perfect with minimal energy loss. No matter, it'll still be using plenty of power. A second identical building is slated to open on the site later this year, but for now, hit the source link for a bit more info on the initial launch.

Facebook wasn't kidding when it said it wanted to build better backends for the digital world -- after sharing the plans for its customized data center, it's looking to do the same with storage hardware. "We're taking the same approach we took with servers," Frank Frankovsky, Facebook's director of Hardware Design, told Wired. "Eliminate anything that's not directly adding value." Frankovsky says they are working on a completely tool-less design, eliminating the need for mounting screws and plastic handles on hot-plug driver carriers. The goal is to get the outfit's new storage digs to run as efficiently as its previous efforts, streamlining hardware to be more serviceable, cost less and use less energy. The new storage designs are set to debut at the Open Compute Summit in early May, and hopes that sharing the designs will help redefine how storage hardware is made. Check out the source link below for Wired's in-depth look at the project.

We know, you've seen an awful lot of Zuckerberg and crew here lately, and the Facebook news just keeps rolling in. This time the social networking giant is doing some sharing of a different sort by offering public access to the specifications and best practices behind its new, more efficient data center in Prineville, Oregon. According to the company, the center, built in collaboration with AMD, Dell, HP, and Intel, has boosted energy efficiency by 38 percent while lowering cost by 24 percent. The information now available through the Open Compute Project includes technical specs and mechanical CAD files for everything from servers to building design. Basically, if you want to erect your own multi-million dollar Facebook-style data center, you've got the go ahead. Full PR after the break.
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altamdcaddata centerdatacenterdellfacebookfacebook data centerfacebookdatacenterhardwarehpintelmarkmark zuckerbergmarkzuckerbergopenopen computeopen compute projectopen sourceopen source hardwareopencomputeopencomputeprojectopensourceopensourcehardwareoregonplansprinevilleprineville oregonprinevilleoregonserverserverssharesharingsocial networkingsocialnetworkingzuckerbergThu, 07 Apr 2011 21:37:00 -040021|19906670